Langreo It is the largest municipality in the mining valleys of Asturias (Spain) and a city that is actually the union of, mainly, the towns of Sama Y La Felguera. It has 40,000 inhabitants and is located very close to Oviedo and Gijón.
How to get
Langreo is a 20-minute drive from Oviedo and of Gijon. It can also be accessed by rail: Renfe connects Oviedo and Avilés with La Felguera and Sama stations, and Renfe Ancho Métrico (former FEVE) performs the same service from Gijón. There is also public transport by road with Oviedo, Gijón and Mieres (companies Alcotán, Autos Sama and Llaneza respectively).
Travel
To move through the urban area, the urban line Autobuses de Langreo SA is available, which also travels through the rest of the Valle del Nalón region, a community in which everything is close and in which the Mining Museum is also located. Asturias and the Redes Natural Park, declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO and on which there is a project to make its reservoirs navigable.
What to see
Langreo has been one of the main industrial and economic points of Spain thanks to the extraction of coal from its subsoil since the 18th century and to industries such as Siderúrgica Duro Felguera. Today it conserves a small part of its industrial activity (Iberdrola and Bayer mainly) that coexist with the memory in the form of museums and cultural spaces of its industrial past (workers 'houses, engineers' chalets, factories, mines, stations, parks ... ). Langreo is also the hospitality capital of the mining regions, with a wide range of cider houses, breweries and festivals that take place especially in the district with the largest population, La Felguera.
Industrial heritage
- Asturias Iron and Steel Museum and the old La Felguera Factory. The MUSI discovers the iron and steel origins of La Felguera and takes a tour of the buildings that still remain in what was one of the most important metallurgical factories in Spain (1857-1986), also getting to know the Engineers Chalet (1906).
- Homes on Calle Conde de Sizzo, La Felguera. Set of mansions, chalets and workers' dwellings from between 1894 and 1943.
- Urquijo working-class neighborhood, La Felguera. Neighborhood built between 1916 and 1919 at the foot of the Duro Felguera Factory.
- Dolores Duro Park, La Felguera. Central park made from the factory itself with a music kiosk, cast iron lamps and the statue of Pedro Duro (1895).
- Well Lláscares Mine, La Felguera. Classic recently closed mining complex.
- School of Arts and Crafts, La Felguera. Old La Salle school from 1902.
- Nitrastur factory, La Felguera. Spectacular abandoned chemical factory, a benchmark in the architecture of the Modern Movement in Asturias.
- Well Fondón, Sama. Current headquarters of the Hunosa Mining Archive, English-style buildings.
- Dorado Schools, Sama. The old school for miners' children, from the 1920s.
- Bridges of Sama. Among them La Maquinilla and Los Ingleses, beautiful examples of industrial architecture.
- San Luis Well and Samuño Valley Mining Ecomuseum, Ciaño. The tourist mining train that runs through the beautiful Pozo San Luis mine at a depth of several meters.
- Mosquito net wells, Tuilla. The Mosquitera I and El Terrerón mines surround the mining town of Tuilla, in the heart of the Candín Valley. Its castles and abandoned buildings contrast with the green of the surrounding mountains.
Civil and religious heritage
- Assets of Cultural Interest of Ciaño: related to the medieval origin of the Ciaño district; the House of La Buelga, the Tower of La Quintana, the House of the Alberti, the Palace of San Féliz, the Church of San Esteban and the Virgen del Carbayu Sanctuary, patron saint of Langreo.
- Carbayu Sanctuary Baroque church where the Virgen del Carbayu, patron saint of Langreo, is venerated on top of a mountain
- Felgueroso Cinema, Sama. Spectacular sample of modern architecture from the mid-twentieth century.
- Santiago church, Sama. Neo-Gothic reconstruction of great beauty.
- Spain Square, Sama. With the City Hall building, Casa Cuca (art-deco) or the old Banco Herrero.
- St. Peter's Church, La Felguera. Neo-Romanesque reconstruction of this temple, one of the largest in Asturias, influenced by Asturian, Romanesque and even industrial art.
- Covered market, La Felguera. Under its enormous 1952 vault, numerous meat, vegetable and fish stalls are housed from Monday to Saturday.
- Camposagrado Palace (Asset of Cultural Interest) Riaño.
Museums and cultural centers
- Pinacoteca Eduardo Úrculo (former municipal slaughterhouse)
- Museum of the Iron and Steel Industry of Asturias, MUSI
- Samuño Valley Ecomuseum and Mining Railway
- Culture houses of La Felguera and Sama
- Theater of La Felguera
- Cine Felgueroso audiovisual center
Routes
Numerous routes such as Los Molinos run through the rural landscape of Langreo. Others such as La Nueva, El Trole and La Braña run through the natural and mining landscape of the municipality. The Nalón river walk (more than 13 km) begins in La Felguera and reaches the entrance to the Redes Natural Park, finding vestiges of the old industrial activity (Los Talleres del Conde, bridges, the Well Maria Luisa). until arriving at the rural landscape that Armando Palacio Valdés captured in his famous "Lost Village".
Eat and go out
Langreo houses an assortment of traditional and sophisticated local cider houses, cocktail bars, winches, breweries and wineries that are distributed throughout the municipality and are especially concentrated in La Felguera, especially the pedestrian center of the town and the neighborhoods of La Pomar, Pinín and Calle Julián Duro.
The most important festivals in Langreo are on the occasion of the celebrations of San Pedro (in La Felguera, June), Santiago (Sama, July) and the Virgen del Carbayu (Ciaño, September). Gastronomic festivals of La Sidra (April) and La Fabada (December) are also held.